Jack's Luck
by TheXGrayXLady
Summary: No matter how much he'd known Napoleon was tiny, it had never really sunk in. Pokemon AU


He'd never really realized how small she was until he grabbed her and pulled her off of the Walrein. Maybe it was the ankle biting, maybe it was her self-confident strut, the showing off, the way she'd challenge any other pokemon, regardless of how much bigger than her they were, whatever it was, no matter how much he'd known Napoleon was tiny, it had never really sunk in. Now, he was thinking of every comment from every trainer he'd ever known.

_"Isn't she a little runty for a gym battle?"_

"Aw…how long ago did she hatch?"

"She looks a little on the small side…Is there something wrong with her?"

"Is she supposed to be a miniature?"

"I think you should train her more before you get into a battle…"

As he booked it out of the clearing, narrowly dodging an ice beam as he did so, he was faintly aware of her chewing on his arm. He was more aware of how light the poor thing was, the warm red drops leaving a trail behind them, the blizzard tossing thick, wet snowflakes in their face, the growing cold, and the fact that he'd used his last potion the other day after Attila had a run-in with a Snover.

"Hang in there Napoleon. Listen to me, just this one time, please," he said, ducking under low-hanging branches.

Napoleon was so small and Vlad's stupid Walrein was so big, one of Peter's flippers was bigger than her whole body. He couldn't fathom why she'd chosen to attack him and what exactly she'd done to send the normally placid pokemon into such a rage. He didn't care about why now though; he just wanted to make sure she pulled through. He told himself that she was scrappy, that she'd made it through worse, but even he didn't really believe it. She was so small, so fragile; he was already subconsciously preparing himself for the worst.

He stopped running when the arm chewing stopped. For an eternity, the world froze, only to start again when he realized she was still breathing. Without thinking, he took off his coat and bundled her up in it.

"Goddamn it Napoleon," he muttered, holding her tightly with one arm and pulling out Victoria's pokeball with his free hand. The skarmory tilted her head as she evaluated the situation, he knew that look, the, "I don't know what I'm going to do, but my stupid trainer wants me to do a thing so I'll think of something," look. "Victoria, Fly!"

She wrapped her talons around his shoulders and started to take off, but was forced back the ground a few moments later by the blizzard. She gave him a sad look and pointed her beak at Napoleon. He knew what she meant, "You're too heavy for this weather, but I think I can make it with her." He nodded and reluctantly handed the bundle of coat and poochyena over to Victoria. She immediately took off and flew as best she could towards what he assumed was the nearest town.

He started walking in the same direction she'd flown off in. It was the best he could hope for that they'd make it alright. Victoria was smart. They'd be fine. Napoleon would probably be biting Nurse Joy in a few hours. He'd probably be there by then, everything would be just fine. Town couldn't be very far away and he was wearing a thermal shirt, he'd be fine.

But the longer he walked, the more tired he became and no matter how much he told himself he was going the right way, he wasn't sure he believed it. He was so tired, he could barely keep his eyes open. That tree looked like it was covered in less snow than the others, it would probably be a good idea to sit and rest for a few minutes, just rest so he had enough strength to get through the storm.

He sat and the snow blew around him, like watching little figure skaters in the air. One of them was doing a double axel just in front of his nose. He couldn't help but laugh as the world faded to black around him. The darkness was soft, like a down blanket. Like this, he could understand how one of the only things he wasn't afraid of was the dark. Funny, after a while, he could almost imagine he heard a familiar yip and howl.

_**X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X**_

The light surrounding him was as harsh and sharp as the darkness before was soft. "Eurgh…five more minutes mom…I promise I'll be ready for school on time, just five more…" he was silenced by something very furry and very wriggly jumping on his face. He sat straight upright and wrapped his arms around the little shit as soon as he felt tiny teeth gently tugging on his ear. "Napoleon you little…You had me worrie…" he stopped for a moment and checked his surroundings, just to be sure neither of them had died and this was some sort of afterlife kind of thing. Nope, it looked like a hospital. A perfectly normal, living person hospital. It even smelled like old people. Victoria and Attila were sleeping, curled up in one of the chairs, and Jackbot buzzed happily by his head.

"Glad to see you're awake!" a voice from the door said, a nurse checking in with a blanket. "You gave everybody a fright when they found you."

"What happened?" he said, still petting Napoleon furiously and making sure she was perfectly alright. Aside from the bandages, she looked perfectly fine. "How did I get here?"

"When that one came into the pokemon center, they got her patched up quickly, she still wasn't in good shape but as soon as she woke up, she looked around and bolted right out of bed," she said, putting the blanket by the foot of the bed and pouring him a cup of water. That sounded about right. Napoleon didn't care much for pokemon centers. "Apparently she wrecked half an IV set up while she was at it. She ran right out of the pokemon center and into the forest and by the time Nurse Joy caught up with her, she was jumping on you and biting you to try to wake you up. You're very lucky to have a pokemon like her."

"Yeah, I guess I am." It wasn't a guess though. He looked at the little poochyena squirming in his arms and frantically licking at is face and knew that he was a very lucky trainer.


End file.
